Reimagining Prison Education

Reimagining Prison Education
The Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) creates the opportunity for incarcerated men and women to earn a Bard College degree while serving their sentences. The academic standards and workload are rigorous, based on an unusual mix of attention to developmental skills and ambitious college study. The rate of post-release employment among the program’s participants is high and recidivism is stunningly low. By challenging incarcerated men and women with a liberal education, BPI works to redefine the relationship between educational opportunity and criminal justice.
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Our Programs

As the largest program of its kind in the United States, BPI enrolls 250 incarcerated men and women across a full spectrum of academic disciplines, and offers over 50 courses each semester. By 2011, Bard granted 157 degrees to BPI participants and enrolled a total of nearly 500 students.

In the News

PBS NewsHour reports on the Bard Prison Initiative and its academics-based "job training" in a two-part series from Woodbourne Correctional Facility. Part I includes interviews with BPI incarcerated students, program faculty, and executive director Max Kenner. Part II focuses on BPI alumnus Anthony Cardenales, employed with WeRecycle!.

For More Information

The Bard Prison Initiative
Bard College
PO Box 5000
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000
www.bard.edu/bpi
bpi@bard.edu
845-758-7308